Study gives malaria protection hope

Australian scientists have pinpointed why people with malaria don't develop immunity during infection.

They've revealed how malaria parasites cause an inflammatory reaction that sabotages the body's ability to protect itself against the disease.

The discovery could lead to improving new or existing malaria vaccines by boosting key immune cells needed for long-lasting immunity, say the researchers from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

Published in the journal Cell Reports, the study examined how the immune system responded to malaria infection caused by Plasmodium falciparum.

"With many infections, a single exposure to the pathogen is enough to induce production of antibodies that will protect you for the rest of your life," said Dr Diana Hansen.

"However, with malaria it can take up to 20 years for someone to build up sufficient immunity to be protected.

"During that time people exposed to malaria are susceptible to reinfection and become sick many times, as well as spreading the disease."

The researchers found that the strong inflammatory reaction that accompanies and actually drives severe clinical malaria is also responsible for silencing the key immune cells needed for long-term protection against the parasite.

Inflammatory molecules released by the body to fight the infection were preventing protective antibodies from being made.

"This research opens the door to therapeutic approaches to accelerate development of protective immunity to malaria and improve efficacy of malaria vaccines," Dr Hansen said.